OT: Pahokee dismissed from 7 on 7 tourney

I was reading an article about the Nike 7 on 7 camp and came across this interesting note about our favorite school in the muck:
"Northwestern and Pahokee (Fla.) stood atop of their respective pools after day one of the event. The Bulls and Blue Devils appeared to be on a path to meet in the finals. However, Pahokee was dismissed from the tournament for 'a variety of reasons' regarding a lack of respect for others, according to camp officials.
'Every team was briefed on our code of conduct policy on Wednesday. We had a conversation with every team about what the expected level of behavior would be on campus. Essentially, [Pahokee] violated that code of conduct, and they were dismissed from the tournament.'"
Now, I don't personally know the players who have come up to Michigan, however I have heard that they are good hardworking individuals. It just makes me wonder how/if a change of environment could affect these kids.
Edit:Link

I recall that too. It's hard to know when he's serious though. And it's not really clear what he meant if he was serious. I sure wish the season would start. Man, I just repeated Don's comment. Is there a delete button here?

that Will is just joking most of the time. He's the kind of guy that likes to joke around with the other guys on the team from what I've seen. I don't think you can take too much away from Will saying anything about them, and I would even take it the opposite way and say he said that because he got along with them. All of this is only my opinion though.

I lived in that South Florida area from 3rd grade all the way thru graduating high school, and based on my time down there, my guess is they were being incredibly disrespectful to other teams, like talking an immense amount of crap.

South Florida is like being in another country, I moved to ATL after there and it was like a whole nother planet because everyone was so much friendlier. You may be thinking that "Well, all kids are disrespectful and talk crap", however I would remind you this is the same area that Miami and FIU do almost all of their recruiting, and they had that huge brawl like no other before it. Maybe it's something in the water, ha.

I could be wrong, but that is what I expect to hear from my experiences down there.

According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel today, last year's team got into a brawl at the same tournament. but were not booted out. So this year's team must have found something more offensive to do?

for the program right at this time would be for RR recruits to get into trouble up in Ann Arbor. Sure, we can issue all the standard and reasonable caveats about "waiting for all the details to come out before we pass judgement" and "let's not paint everyone from there with a broad brush" etc etc etc, but you know that UM's recruiting opponents will do no such thing. Since there's no real news going on in college football, this will get the sort of attention it never would in the middle of the season. RR's critics and rival coaches will jump on this, and unfortunately they'll portray it as a vindication of Wermers's comment about the character of some of the kids RR has recruited. It doesn't matter if all of the Michigan kids from south Florida are choir-singing church-going-yes-ma'am upright youngsters, they'll be lumped in with the kids down in Pahokee right now who were so out of control they got bumped from the tournament.

will have no effect on the Michigan program. I'm not sure RR's rival coaches will jump on this story - those rival coaches in recruiting, who include Lane Kiffin (who really has no business criticizing anything within a 50-mile radius of Pahokee right now) Bobby Bowden and Urban Meyer, are regularly recruiting and signing kids from Pahokee.

who are early enrollees. Soph Odoms is also from Pahokee. Weird comment by Will Campbell, though... was he being intentionally silly, or was he alluding to something more serious? Was he referring to the non-Pahokee guys from Florida?

I was his RA this year, and his roomate was t-rob, both were very mild mannered, at least in the dorms. Tate was actually more boisterous.

Vince seemed like a nice, quiet guy. I've also seen Odoms on rounds in West Quad, and he never seemed to act a fool either.
As for Will Campbell, I think he just kinda likes to say provocative things for his amusement, he always hung out with guys on my floor (he lived on the floor above us). He's a character too. It's a funny thing to see a 300 lb mammoth walk around with one of those kiddie TMNT backpacks lol.

That is basically what I expected out of Big Will. I would agree that he was just poking fun at some of his teammates. I see many more comments coming from him in the future. That's good to hear about the young guys too. I don't want Odoms to ever "act a fool" either, so that's good to hear.

what I meant was that Michigan does not have a verbal (and likely will not receive one) from any of the players currently playing in the 7-7 tourney. I know Michigan has current players from Pahokee, but nobody in the class that was booted from that tourney.

The Muck is a place that is hard to describe. Living in S FL for the past 15 years and hearing about this does not suprise me. It still makes me sad but doesn't suprise me. Most of you may not know but they were disqualified last year for fighting the Booker T Washington team after their matchup. Washington won the game and after the game ended the Pahokee players rushed the Washington bench and started throwing punches.

I got a 23 and didn't get in. Of course I'm a 5'8 white guy that can't catch herpes at a titty bar. - Toledowolverine

Pahokee isn't Michigan, nor is it affiliated with Michigan. We have three alumni of the school on our team, but none participated in this tournament. We aren't recruiting anyone who participated in whatever happened. This literally does not reflect on Michigan in the least.

You and I believe, with good reason, that it doesn't and shouldn't reflect on Michigan in the least, but my point was that our competitors will not hesitate to try to link RR's recruited players to this if they think they can get an advantage from it. It's not as though the concept of guilt by association needs a shred of validity or truthfulness for it to be effective with some people.

At the minimum, it appears as though the Pahokee football players may be in dire need of some positive leadership.

I don't think some random Pahokee players talking trash or even fighting is going to automatically scare any serious Michigan recruit away; however, Pahokee developing a "troublemaker" reputation can hurt recruiting.

Parents and coaches have enormous influence in the lives and decisions of lots kids during the recruiting process. All it takes is some half remembered news about "troublesome Pahokee kids" and the fact that Michigan has heavily recruited there (and may again), to sour some parents and coaches and for them to steer their kids elsewhere.

Jim Tressel: Oh yeah Mr. & Mrs. Recruit, Michigan's a fine school too if you don't mind all those "Pahokee kids", you of course remember all those incidents. No no I'm sure your little Johnny wouldn't pick up any of their bad habits.

In recruiting, like who, Urban Meyer? Lane Kiffin? Bobby Bowden? Or dozens of other schools who offer Pahokee players? What benefit would they get from disparaging Rich Rod for taking Pahokee players if they wanted those same players to sign for their program?

i couldnt agree more with you. Also Pahokee is one of the hottest recruiting breeding grounds in the country, probably in the top ten year in, year out. I would bet most schools that can get their paws on the studs down in Pahokee will be willing to take the risk of a sketchy kid because they have so much talent. Im not saying that the kids from Pahokee are sketchy but clearly its difficult to grow up in that area. Heck, if this scares school away from recruiting that area then more studs for us.

pahokee is full of violence, and thats what you learn growing up living there. thats all you know and having that 'gang' mentallity when you are with the whole team doesnt really help. im sure once the certain individuals are brought to places that teach respect they can change.

the comments, pictures, or videos above are under no way related to or from the university of michigan

It is startling the degree to which we will speculate about a report like this and how little we actually know about what transpired. It is wise in these instances to reserve judgment, let the proper authorities handle it and let the Pahokee players whom we will come to "know" have the chance to demonstrate who they are. It is all to easy to take a story like this, dip it in the paint can and start painting everyone the same colour. This is how prejudice is born.

Cranky, long-time MGoBlogger, and a proud member of the "06/30/2008 Club".

would possibly give you a negative for this post as there doesn't seem to be anything terrible in it IME. Therefore, though I wouldn't ordinarily give a post like this a point, I give you a +1 to even the score.

On another note, I agree that the boys down South won't be able to use this as ammunition but I would think that Tressel and our other competitors could find it easy to spin. Reality very rarely matters, it is perception that seems to override it more often than not. I can see our competitors ATTEMPTING to change peoples perception based on a story like this. Would they succeed? I hope the hell not.

How is this relevant to UM? Well, in light of the reason for Feagin's dismissal, RR should be carefully considering what type of program his recruits are coming from. This is not to say every kid from Pahokee is a thug. A more careful look is needed when a recruit is coming from a program led by a head coach who does not place importance on character.